Conservative Income Feature

Intense competition, hefty capital spending needs and erratic regulation have made the communications sector an investment minefield. But Conservative Holding Comcast Corp (NSDQ: CMCSA) remains a model of consistency, adding new business while growing cash flow and dividends.

In February 2018, I recommended Edison International (NYSE: EIX) as a new Aggressive Holding. Shares had taken just a big hit on concern the company would be held liable for billions in 2017 wildfire damages under the state’s “inverse condemnation” law.

After a decade as the primary focus of utility M&A, regulated assets don’t come cheap. But when a high flyer drops back to a good entry point, we jump. And that’s now the case for natural gas distributor South Jersey Industries (NYSE: SJI).

Sustainability worries about North American shale oil and gas production, governance concerns and an ugly half-decade of dividend cuts convinced many investors to flee the midstream energy sector and never look back.

Outside of regulated utilities, no group of companies has demonstrated greater long-term resilience than super oils like Top 10 DRIP Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX). That’s still true despite what many consider their greatest challenge yet: Global decarbonization.

Over the past 15 years, Conservative Holding Pembina Pipeline Corp (TSX: PPL, NYSE: PBA) has endured two wholesale depressions in Alberta’s energy patch—and the Canadian government’s death sentence on its former income trust structure.

In summer 2013, Exelon Corp (NYSE: EXC) cut its quarterly payout from 52.5 cents to 31 cents per share. The 41 percent reduction was a tacit admission that no US carbon tax would save the nation’s largest nuclear power fleet from falling wholesale electricity prices.

Communications has been a tough business throughout North America for years. But Conservative Holding BCE Inc (TSX: BCE, NYSE: BCE) has consistently gained revenue and market share. The company today operates Canada’s Best in class network on the verge of 5-G adoption.

From its humble beginnings as the old Southwestern Bell, AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) emerged from the competitive free-for-all following 1996 deregulation as one of America’s big two telecoms. And revenues, earnings and dividends have risen consistently ever since.

Conservative Holding Algonquin Power & Utilities (TSX: AQN, NYSE: AQN) has roughly $5 billion in market capitalization. It’s sparsely represented in indexes and individual investors hold nearly half the float. The result is few US-based analysts cover the stock, despite the fact that US operations generated 95 percent of the company’s 2018 revenue.